Christian Education & Evangelism REPORT OF THE CHRISTIAN EDUCATION AND EVANGELISM COMMITTEE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2010 Jesus said “When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” Acts 1 v 8 GNB Paul said to Timothy, “God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold, loving and sensible. So don’t be embarrassed to speak up for our Master” 2 Timothy 1 v 7&8: The Message When the Christian Education and Evangelism Committees merged following last year‟s General Assembly, there was some concern that Evangelism may become less of a focus. We wondered if two sub-groups should be formed each dealing with their own topic. However, this has not been the case and, although we have tried to give evangelism and education equal time, we have probably focussed more on evangelism. The committee regards itself as a resource in evangelism and training and invites contact from congregations seeking support in those areas. CONGREGATIONAL QUESTIONNAIRE As a joint report we brought an initiative regarding assistance with evangelism to the General Assembly in 2008/ 9. Due to a lack of response to this initiative we had to consider if we were trying to provide a resource that was not required. It was decided that we should gather further information to give us an overview of what churches were doing with regards to Mission and Outreach. A questionnaire was devised and sent to congregations. This was designed to assist us in identifying any trends relating to the demographics of congregations, to stimulate thinking about Mission and Outreach within Kirk Sessions and to identify churches with active mission and outreach projects that may require assistance or churches who would like assistance with preparing a Mission Plan. An appendix showing the responses to the questionnaire can be found at the end of this report. As a result of the questionnaire we have identified up to 5 congregations with projects which may benefit from additional resourcing and 10 congregations who wish assistance with mission plans. Each of them has been contacted to assess how we can best meet their needs. All congregations have been written to regarding the questionnaire responses. MISSION PLANNING The committee has examined a Mission Planning pack currently being used by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. We propose to trial this with congregations who wish to develop a Mission plan. We are in contact with the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to find out how their congregations responded to the material and how Mission plans are being implemented. COURSES IN EVANGELISM The committee commends to congregations‟ resources such as “Blowing Your Cover”. This is designed to equip and release churches to confidently share their faith in a natural way. It helps in identifying congregations‟ predominant style of evangelism and what natural contacts there are within their sphere of influence.
68